Operation: Vegas Storm
by ClancyEnthusiast
Summary: Eggman opens up a casino in Las Vegas, and GUN becomes more than a little concerned. Enlisting the aid of the newly formed "Rainbow Six" division, they plan to destroy the casino and it's reputation from the inside out. Rated for mild language.
1. The Introduction

Hey there. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to accidentally click on my fic, now disappointed to see this instead of the much better one that was directly under this one in the archive. But hear me out. It's not too terrible. But should you choose to read on, please take another minute or two to review this fic. And should you choose to review it, be honest. I branched out and decided to go with a much more leisurely way of writing with this. And I'm not overly confident. But still no flames.

Now, since this fic contain a large number rip-offs of much better fandoms. That being said, I do not own Rainbow Six, any of the Sonic Characters, Wilkes, Toreno, Naomi, or anything really. They all belong to their respected owners, which are much to numerous for me to hope to list. With that, read on.

* * *

Rainbow Six. The name spreads like wildfire among the many active troops of the GUN Federation. By Friday, a mere two days after the teams creation, the name is infamous, and at the top of all conversation. The members are a mystery. No one knows which lucky souls were granted permission to work as field operatives alongside the men and women who were said to be the most "skilled team of professionals on the face of the Earth". And it is good that they never found out, because that information was strictly confidential.

How do I know? Well, to be frank, I can't really tell you. But I will say this. Back in the day, I certainly had a couple of good connections in the government. Shall we say, "friends in high places". But I think I'll leave it at that, before a couple of unmarked SUV's show up outside my house with rifle toting secret agents in the back.

Anyway, back to the team. Going by the team's codename, you should be able to figure out exactly how many operatives there were. You shouldn't need me to tell you that, but I will. Cause' I'm a nice guy. There were six of them. Only two being field operatives. The rest were mission support operatives, tasked with aiding the two lucky agents.

Now, if you've ever heard of Shadow the Hedgehog, you know he's one bad ass, butt kicking, super hedgehog of a hero. Despite what the media will tell you, he's saved the planet from destruction numerous times. Examples? I'm sure you remember the Biolizard. That incident? That was Shadow. Sonic who? No, no, no. Shadow did it. He nearly killed himself, and saving your butt in the process! You should be grateful! Oh! And the Black Arms invasion? The one that nearly ended with us humans being used as a food supply those ugly ass aliens? That was _entirely _Shadow! Though I must apologize. Back then I was still a Colonel, and my squad nearly met up with him in the city. We had orders to kill. And thank goodness the Commander called off the manhunt before we did, because I know beyond the shadow of a doubt, he would have killed us all!

Sorry, I'm falling off track. Anyway, the point is that Shadow himself joined GUN the year after the invasion. And I think it goes without saying that he was able to breeze through the ranks with relative ease. He made a nice name for himself retrieving stolen GUN equipment. Although uh... he also made a name for himself for the rather unfortunately "messy" ways of doing so. Let's just say that most of the suspects in question ended up in a maximum security prison hospital. Either that, or in the morgue.

Ah! Here I go again with the rambling. Look, Shadow turned out being one of two members of Rainbow Six. With good reason too! Personally? I don't think I could have made a better choice. Shadow, he's... trustworthy. Not that I feel he's particularly loyal to GUN, but rather that I think he has no real reason to betray us. I'm no expert psychologist, or psychiatrist... which one? Look, I'm no doctor, but I know people. (And hedgehogs apparently.) Up until the time he joined GUN, the only thing on his mind was fulfilling some promise he made to a little dame called Maria. Poor girl. Now that's a real sad story. But I'll stop myself before I begin my cursed rambling. Shadow's promise to little old Maria was to protect the planet she loved so much. (We're dang lucky that planet was Earth!) And he did that by stopping the Black Arms. But why stop there? Earth and it's population are constantly put up against increasingly dangerous threats. Threats like nuclear warfare, alien invasion, maniacal tyrants. The list goes on. And I'm sure Maria would be pretty pissed, if Earth was destroyed or conquered just because Shadow thought the contract ended with Black Arms. So he continued protecting it.

Dang it! Me and my rambling! Can you believe it? Well, the whole point of this overly long fairy tale is that Shadow turned out to be one of the field operatives of Rainbow Six. And I think it was a darn good choice too! Now, the other operative, I'm not so trusting of.

Rouge the Bat. Listen, I'll be a long day in January when I start trusting this... this... tramp? For the sake of argument, just humor me. She's the kind of gal who'll break the heart of every man from New York to Philadelphia! (Assuming you went east to get there.) And she knows that. And she likes it. And I _hate _it. I would say I hate her, but she's useful on the field. Namely, as a mole. Villains are a sucker for a smiling woman. I know certain doctor who is. She's supposedly dating that poor guy Knuckles, but rumor has it she's been making Sonic's day. If you know what I mean. I think you do. And unfortunately for my sanity, I have to cater to her every whim whenever she's on a mission. Er... I mean the rest of Rainbow Six has to. I'm _definitely _wasn't a member of Rainbow Six! You understand?

You better.

Anyway. So I'm mixed on the field operatives. I trust Shadow. I like Shadow. I could work with Shadow. I detest Rouge. She's clearly only in it for the money. And the status. As if this is some sort of way for her to become a celebrity! Unbelievable. Now, as for the other four members of Rainbow Six. There all good guys. And good gals too!

For instance. Take Six's Operational Manager. Mike Toreno. There's a good guy. That's a great guy! He's awesome. They say that once, there was this private who couldn't decide weather he should put ketchup or mustard on his burger during lunch break. They say that he had to flip a quarter to decide. Well Mike Toreno was in that mess hall that day, and used his FN Five-Seven sidearm to shoot that quarter in _mid-air_! Yeah he's uh... he's an amazing guy! You know, he was the colonel that lead the squad that nearly took on Shadow back during the Black Arms invasion. Or wait... er... no! He wasn't! Or... I definitely wasn't the leader of that squad. Mike Toreno was! Because I'm _definitely_not Mike Toreno! You understand?

You better.

Well he was a good guy. You know, he had a friend, who was also in Rainbow Six. The Field Runner. Vernon Wilkes. Vernon Wilkes _Jr. _Wilkes was a good guy too. His hair was all orangey red. Toreno used to say he looked like Ron Weasley from Harry Potter. Yeah, he used to hate it when I called him that. Er... he would. If I was Mike Toreno. Which I'm not. You know, I always wanted to know where he got his clothes. He had this brown velvet coat he always wore, over this thin knit green sweater. You know, the kind kids get from their grandma's for the winter? And of course, a nice designer white button down he wore under the sweater. Gosh... you know, looking back I gotta wonder how he was able to wear all that to work almost every day. He must have been so hot, especially with the broken air conditioner in Conference Room B. Which is where Rainbow Six operated from.

Actually, now that I think about it. Wilkes always had this little thing going on with the Rainbow Six Medical Adviser. Doctor Naomi Hunter. She was some woman. Phew! I always think she used to tease poor Toreno. She'd wear an outfit that kinda looked like a white lab coat. And she used to wear that coat with just enough buttons undone to attract the attention of Wilkes and Toreno. And she knew it. I guess in that sense she was a little like Rouge. But she was also very classy. She didn't overdo it. She was professional. You know, she was just Wilkes' type. Smart, classy, brunette, kindhearted. I'm not surprised they got married. I mean, they didn't get married! No! And they _definitely_ don't own a little cabin up in the Rockies! No sir. They don't You... you understand?

Yeah. You better.

Now, as customary for all elite divisions of GUN, Rainbow Six was directly supervised by the GUN Commander himself. People say he has a "heart of stone" and a "will of iron". Well, truthfully... he's simply an emotionless jerk. Forty years in GUN, and I still never made it to Field Marshal. Granted, I was happy when he had me promoted to Major General. But I still think I had potential for more than that. But the point is, he was the Supervisory Agent of Rainbow Six. Everyone else worked for him. They reported to him. He was the man! He was the shit! Well he can kiss my...

Heh, me and my rambling huh? Well, come to think of it, I think that's all the members of Rainbow Six. Every one of them. All uh... _six_ of them. Yup. Okay then, I did my purpose. I told you about R-6. I told you exactly what every book in the Library of Congress will deny. Their existence. So, with that said, I'll let you go.

Oh crap. It looks like I'll have a little more time than I thought. The horse races don't start for another two hours. Someone must have erased part of the eight in the eight o' clock ticket to make it look like six! Look at that. Can you believe that. Yup, there's the black eraser smudge. Oh well. Now that I've got some time to kill, maybe you'd be interested in a game of cards. Do you know "Go Fish"?

No? Oh, you must want more information! Well, let me tell you about a mission. This one mission that Rainbow Six had a few years back. Back when I still worked for GUN. Yeah. See this mission took place in the entertainment capital of the world. Guessed it yet? I'm sure you have. Yeah. Renowned as "Sin City". Yeah. That's right. I'm talking about Las Vegas. I'm talking about...

Operation: Vegas Storm.


	2. A Week of Headaches and Brainstorms

Well that was a quick update huh? Alright so, just to clarify a bit on what exactly you're all reading. More or less, this _is_ a Rainbow Six/Sonic crossover. More or less. All that I really took from Rainbow Six, was the name. No real characters or storyline from the series. However, there are actual characters in this story from...

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Mike Toreno)

Metal Gear Solid: (Naomi Hunter)

Splinter Cell: (Vernon Wilkes Jr.)

Not to mention, this whole fic was really the bi-product of a devouring an entire bag of potato chips at midnight, recently playing the casino heist mission of San Andreas, and watching Ocean's Eleven for what must be the twentieth time. So without further ado, try to enjoy.

* * *

GUN National Headquarters. Washington, USA. 0500 Hours. (Five a.m. you lazy...)

By the time the slide show had switched to the third picture, most of the men and women in that small room had long since lost interest in it. Toreno and Wilkes were quietly chatting like high school friends. Naomi had her head gently rested on her arms and was half asleep. Rouge was filing her nails, her legs crossed without a care in the world. I suppose Shadow was the only one there who had any idea what the point of the slide show was about.

In short, it showed a series of high resolution photos of the exterior of a lavish casino somewhere in central Las Vegas. Large flashing signs displayed the name as "The Egg Palace". And it didn't take a genius to figure out from that name, that good old Dr. Eggman was up to his old tricks again. The problem was, no one was sure which of his tricks he was playing this time.

Casino bases were nothing new for the diabolical doctor, however, this time the atmosphere was oddly legitimate. No robots, no lasers, not even a spike trap. But they all knew better. There was no reason Eggman would start a casino without some reason that related to evil doing. Something was up.

The most probable reason was funding. This was no video game and certainly no cartoon. This was reality. And in reality, evil costs a lot of cash. Without a proper income, there was little chance you could afford the big brand name laser guns or doomsday missiles. Nope. No "Acme" gadgets for you coyote. Not unless you've got the fourteen grand down payment. A casino could certainly pay for itself, and any mechanical parts the good doctor might require to build up his latest plot.

And so that's what they were going with. Eggman needed the casino to pay for his new plan. And at the moment, that was definitely something GUN could not afford to let happen. Something had to be done. And who better to assign the case to than Rainbow Six?

Of course, they wouldn't be foiling any plans, any time soon. Not unless the rest of the room started showing more interest in the Commander's carefully made PowerPoint presentation. Clicking off the slide show, the well built man angrily grabbed the small remote off the top of the projector, and pressed the only button on it. The lights flickered on, only adding to the immense heat in the room.

"So to recap." The Commander said, wheeling the device off to the right, before returning to take his seat at the end of the long conference table. "Dr. Eggman's casino must go out of business, in order to prevent him from gaining any extra funding for his future plans. You, ladies and gentlemen, are the solution to this problem. Any suggestions?"

No hands were raised, as no one was really quite sure of what the man just said. With a quick roll of his eyes and an exhausted sigh, Shadow's hand poked above the canopy of heads in the room.

"Yes. Shadow." The Commander said, pointing out to the ebony hedgehog in the back of the room.

The hedgehog cleared his throat, and breathed out his discomfort. "If the main goal is to reduce Eggman's funds, then wouldn't a heist be an appropriate way to go about doing so?"

The Commander nodded, a thin smile spreading out on his face. "Excellent idea Shadow." He was like a teacher trying to make an example of how everyone else in class should act like the good kid. It was pathetic really. They all knew that the man's only goal was to make it to the end of the day, when he could go to the nearby bar to down a couple liquor shots.

It was the Commander's dirty little secret. Stupid drunk. How dare he not promote me to Field Marshal. I was more than capable! More so than him!

Dang me and my infernal rambling. Back to the conference. Toreno sighed, and sat up in his chair. Folding his hands as he leaned forward, he nodded. "That sounds like a good plan to me. I second it."

Wilkes chuckled. "Hey, I'll go with anything that'll get us out to lunch faster. I'm dying for something to eat, and it _is _hoagie week in the mess hall!"

There was a chorus of agreement from the team, minus Shadow and the Commander, who both rolled their eyes in a parenting kind of way. This is followed soon after by a couple of rumbling stomaches and daydreaming about the many meats of a "GUN Special". Ham, bologna, salami, some roast beef, and even turkey for those who requested it. The list goes on, but there are more important things I can tell you, than exactly which sandwich each of them had devoured for lunch that day.

"Look!" The Commander bellowed, the frustration bursting in his voice. "This is a serious problem here! If Eggman accumulates enough money for whatever he is planning-"

"Than 'Mr. Blue Blur' will come to the rescue and destroy whatever anime-inspired robot the moron has built this time!" Wilkes said, showing off his lighter side with yet another wise crack. "I don't see what the problem is."

There was a certain amount of truth in what Wilkes had said. Everyone agreed to some extent that as annoying as it was to see Sonic the Hedgehog praised everyday for saving the world, it made their job easier. One more parade and press conference for the hedgehog, was one less week of headaches and brainstorms for the group. And they were all fine with that.

The Commander cursed the man from the labor union who proposed the "job security act" for all level three operatives a year ago, and won. Allowing his employees to goof off as they pleased. The only thing he had left to keep them in check was paycheck deductions. He smacked his fist down on the table, and shot a death glare to each and every one of the people seated at that table. Except Shadow. "Listen! You've all been assigned the case. And that's final. Now start thinking of ways to stop Eggman, before you end up living in boxes for the rest of your lives!"

With that threat, he sighed and stood up from the seat. "You are... dismissed."

The five of them each breathed a sigh of relief, and filtered out of the humid room, into the cool refreshing air of the main corridor of the North Wing. The Mess Hall itself was in the South Wing, but none of them minded the ten minute walk. It gave them time to chatter amongst themselves about the upcoming week.

Shadow was the only one who walked out alone, until he sensed Rouge coming up on his side. She had to quicken her pace to catch up with the black and red hedgehog, but once she did, she smirked deviously. "Well Shadow, have anything planned for the weekend?"

He scoffed, and decided to humor her. "Yeah, about five hours of cold showers this Saturday, ten minutes of slitting my wrists on Sunday, followed by painting on the fire escape of my apartment during the rain storm."

"Wow Shadow, I never knew you were so..." She stopped, obviously at a loss for words. She didn't catch the joke in his statement, which effectively made it an awkward situation. "You know, I'm going to be all alone tonight."

Strike one. Shadow wasn't in the mood for Rouge's seduction attempts. Especially now that he knew the upcoming few days would be spent with the rest of the team, doing reconnaissance on Eggman's casino. In other words, more work. The hedgehog continues walking, showing no emotion. "Oh, you don't say?"

But before he could go any further down the hallway, she stepped in front of him. Rolling his eyes for the umpteenth time that day, he decided to pay attention. "So I was wondering if you'd mind coming over and uh... keeping me company." She was obviously doing her best to get him into bed that night. Now, personally, after less than a month of working with Shadow, I myself already know that he isn't the "one night stand" type. Especially when the women of said "one night stand" was already in a relationship.

Or two.

So it's strike two. He was beginning to get annoyed with her damned sex politics. "Don't you already have a boyfriend?" He asked, before walking around her, hoping to catch up with the only people he can really talk to at work.

"I have a few, which one do you mean?" She asked, her voice just low and sultry enough to make Shadow's stomach flip in disgust. And when she snaked her arms around his left, he'd all but had enough of her games. "Come on Shad, live a little."

That did it. Strike three. Not only did he hate when people called him "Shad", he absolutely detested all uninvited physical contact. With a powerful shove, he threw her off him and into the nearby wall of the hallway. She hit the metal with a loud "thud" that was heard by the group ahead that was at least ten yards down, and she slid to the floor. Shadow gave her one last look of disgust, and just a little pity, and started off down to catch up with the others.

Rouge frowned, and stood up, brushing off her bottom, and crossing her arms. She stood there, watching Shadow run ahead, without any care for her or her bruised tush. Then, with an irritated sigh, she brushed off the disappointment and started off down in the opposite direction. Fine. If he didn't want her, then that was his loss. Or, at least that was what she would try to convince herself of.

But back to the rest of them. Up near the double doors that lead into the South Wing of the fourteenth floor of the GUN Headquarters, Toreno, Naomi, Wilkes, and Shadow all discussed whatever they could to pass the time. Toreno whipped out a small box from his pocket, and opened it. Reaching in with just two fingers, he plucked out a single cigarette and nestled it between his lips. Pocketing the pack, he rummaged through all the pockets of his blue blazer and groaned. Turning to Wilkes, he made a motion with his hand. "You got a light?"

"Uh, yeah." He reached into his brown coat, and pulled out a plain black lighter with the GUN insignia on it. Everyone had the stupid trinkets. They pushed the dang things on agents at every company picnic. I pity the fool that added the three extra zeros, to the number of lighters on the order form that GUN faxed to it's contacts at the Manatoba Tobacco Company. Because what was supposed to be a mere one thousand lighters for all level two operatives, turned into one million lighters that the Commander now tries to offload, _to this day_.

Oh, there's me and my rambling again. Anyway. Wilkes held out the lighter to Toreno's cigarette, and flicked the switch once or twice. The timid flame appeared a couple of times, before falling back into the lighter. But no problem. Toreno's cig was lit, and he was already breathing in the toxic death smoke.

By the time they had reached the double doors that lead to the mess hall, Toreno had already burned through that very cigarette, which was now no more than a couple of centimeters long. He buried it in a mountain of ash in the large ash tray that was built into the top of the waste basket outside the doors.

The four of them pushed through the heavy double doors, with relative ease. I'll be honest with you. We were, um... _they_ were pretty hungry. And a mere pair of double doors, no matter how heavy, are not going to stop a group of hungry people from getting their grub on. Yeah.

Amen.

Anyway, after entering the large and empty cafeteria room, they all took the moment to breath in the delicious scent of fresh lunch meats. And let me tell you, even if you lived in freakin' Alaska, you knew by the smell of that room, that chefs would be throwing together a lot of East Coast sandwiches for that day. Nope. No crappy military rations, or gritty hospital food. GUN was pure luxury all the way. Except for that blasted hell hole of a conference room they had just escaped from.

Now, it is common practice that by twelve thirty each day of the workweek, the mess hall is filled to overflow with a number of agents, scientists, janitors, and other employees. However at that moment, it wasn't twelve thirty. No sir, much rather twelve noon. A half an hour earlier than the usual lunch time. So that meant that instead of a cafeteria full of sweaty, angry, stressed out soldiers, there was an empty room they had all to themselves.

Filing into a an orderly line, they each approached the counter, eying the long selection of different subway sandwiches and hoagies. They already know what each of them will be getting, by heart. They each order the same thing every "hoagie day". A GUN special for Toreno and Wilkes, dry Italian for Naomi, and a toasted wheat for Shadow. The process is almost nostalgic.

Throughout lunch they spoke of various things. Work mainly, and how each of them was going to cope with the new case. The conversations fell on entertainment, mainly movies. And finally, they began to speak of matters of the heart. Upon which Naomi and Wilkes grew increasingly quiet. It was no surprise that Shadow is virtually silent throughout the talking. He never really contributes much to the conversation, but they were glad to have his company.

As time went on, more troops filtered into the mess hall. By the time the last man had gotten his food, the group was long gone. Naomi and Toreno were taking the rest of the day off. Shadow and Wilkes decided to finish up some things before leaving.

By two in the afternoon, their eighteen hour work day is over. And each of them is relaxing at their homes.

...

Las Vegas Airspace. Nevada, USA. 2300 Hours. (That is, eleven at night.)

The UH-60 Black Hawk chopper that took the team from the GUN Headquarters on Saturday morning wasn't exactly what you'd think of as "the lap of luxury". But the pilot, Bud, was a nice guy. And he did the most he could to make the flight as comfortable as possible.

The Commander had hastily set up the flight without asking any of them. I guess convenience wasn't one of his top priorities. Then again, it never is. So I'm not surprised.

Toreno was on the case the second he woke up that morning. He'd burned through half of the battery in his work issue Gateway laptop. But it was worth the energy. He'd mustered together quite an impressive amount of information, considering they knew almost nothing about Eggman's casino to start with.

First off, he'd learned that "The Egg Palace" was located in Eastland, far north of the infamous Vegas Strip. Second, they now knew, thanks to the good fellows at the Las Vegas City Planning Department, that the casino had three floors. The first was the actual casino, the second was concert and other entertainment, the third was a restaurant and buffet. A private fourth floor was accessible only to Eggman himself. Finally, he'd also discovered that their problems were far worse than just planning the heist.

Eggman had received praise and support by Nevada Senator Bryan Reynolds. Which meant that the mission would be a little more complicated than a full blown raid. If the public became aware that GUN was planning to rob the casino's vault... it would look bad.

And that's where another problem was. The vault. They didn't know where it was. It sure as hell wasn't on the building blueprints Toreno had snagged from the Planning Department's website. And that likely meant it was underground, or not even in the casino. Neither of which was really a favorable circumstance, but their were betting on the former anyway.

So that meant this mission would be starting with standard reconnaissance. Rouge was being sent in. Incognito as a casino guest. She would without a doubt be allowed in... due to her... feminine charm. Shadow was a close second, but he was more likely to have his cover blown, as it was no secret to the doctor that he had joined GUN.

Now, Eggman likely knew that Rouge also worked for GUN as well. But thanks to the aforementioned "feminine charm", she was still a safer choice.

The Black Hawk lurched to a halt as it touched down on the elevated heli pad at McCarren International Airport. Flight Lieutenant James Rosen jumped from the co-pilots seat in the cock pit, and reached for the handle on the cabin door. With a strong pull, the door slid open, and the brisk Vegas Air flooded the vehicle.

Shadow was the first to jump out, landing harmlessly on the asphalt. He was followed soon after by Rouge, who used her wings to soften the short fall. Wilkes was next, more than happy to help Naomi down without falling. Finally Toreno jumped down, the still-open laptop carefully cradled in his arms. They all heard the door slide shut behind them, and started walking down the steps towards the nearby GUN-Transit luggage carrier and passenger limo.

It, and the uniformed driver, took the five of them to the nearest entrance to the main terminal. Now, you're probably thinking, "Five? Where's the Commander?". Well, personally, I don't think anyone cares. I sure know the rest of the team didn't, because as far as any of them were concerned, he could go jump in a freakin' lake. The man was a...

Sorry. You're all here for the story. Back to the team. Once the Gulfstream V private aeroplane carrying their weapons and equipment touched down, they were set. Gathering everything they would need for their mission, the five of them hauled the massive crates out to the front parking lot. There, they met their Vegas contact. A Corporal Lance Wilson, who gave them a nervous salute before piling their luggage into the large GUN bus.

Through all this, there were little words spoken between any of them. Any questions were being saved until everything was safe and settled. In order to avoid unwanted attention, (This was despite the fact that every vehicle they had used to get where they were was plastered with a large GUN insignia on the side. Go figure.) they would be operating out of a defunct hotel that was a safehouse for all local GUN operations in the city.

By eleven thirty, five fully automatic SCAR-L assault rifles, manufactured by official GUN firearms resource, the Belgian Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, had been packed into the ground floor storeroom, in the back of the foyer. Coupled which each member's mandatory issue Five-Seven sidearm. Toreno's laptop was hooked up to a mobile terminal in the lounge, which was being used as a command center for the mission. Along with this, numerous gadgets and other devices were also packed into the storeroom, to be used in the near future.

But the most important thing on their minds, was a good nights sleep. The next week would be bring a hellish amount of work, fighting, and at the end, paperwork. They needed to be well rested.

Ah! Finally, the races are starting. Listen, go get me something to eat from the snack bar, and we'll continue I'll continue the story when you get back. And please, bring be some cigarettes on the way back, I'm running low. Heh, wish me luck.

Hey! They're off! Go Little Skipper! I'm betting everything on you! Go! Go! Go!


	3. Is this the real Dr Eggman?

Oh what the wonders of insomnia can produce! This is a long one (I think. It looked long in the preview.) so you should all like it. Even though the wait was longer. Oh and, would all the angry Rouge fans not try to maim me once you're done reading the chapter? I kinda butcher her in this story, I admit it, but I don't like her! Plain and simple! I deal with it, so can you!

Disclaimer: I still don't own any of this. The Sonic stuff is Sega's, the Metal Gear Solid stuff belongs to Konami (I think.), and the Splinter Cell stuff is property of Ubisoft. Nothing is mine, plain and simple!

* * *

Sunset Hotel. Nevada, USA. 0600 Hours. (Six, fool!)

Room 403.

Wilkes knew the number by heart now. He'd been standing there long enough to have it ingrained in his head. Room 103. In the west hallway, fourth floor. Directly above room 303. Neighboring room 402.

His room.

For the fifth time since he had been standing there, he raised his hand, fist balled, ready to knock on the door for the occupant. And for the fifth time since he had been standing there, he swallowed hard and dropped it at his side again. He didn't know how to go about this.

See, he and Naomi weren't "official". That being said, they hadn't really done many "couple things". So he didn't exactly know how to go about asking her out. He felt mortified, like a high school kid asking out his crush. He felt like every spotlight was on him, and the audience was waiting for something spectacular, and he had nothing. The silence was utterly deafening.

So when Toreno tapped on his right shoulder, he nearly jumped and turned around to face his friend. "What are you doing here?" He asked, the words pushed through gritted teeth as he tried to keep his voice as low as possible.

The man smirked, and huffed. "Gee, I don't know Wilkes." He whispered, and paused, putting the plain white coffee mug to his mouth, and sipping the delicious decaf. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, OUTSIDE NAOMI'S DOOR?" Instead of coffee after that, he felt Wilkes' hand over his mouth as he hushed him.

"What the hell are you..." When he heard the door right next to him open, and the slight gasp of shock as the woman behind it saw the two men, his eyes went wide and he spun his head to the left to face her. At this point, he'd already released Toreno, who was on the verge of bursting into laughter.

"Um... hi Wilkes." She said, a sheepish smile on her face. The two exchanged nervous glances for a little while. Naomi paused to brush a stray hair out of her eyes.

Toreno took another loud sip from his coffee, and let out a blissful sigh, letting the beverage warm his breath. "I'll leave you two alone then. I've got better things to do."

He turned around on his heel, and marched down the hallway towards the main staircase, that lead to the ground floor. Behind him, he heard loving chatter. He personally never knew what to expect with those two. Until recent times, he'd always held the unwritten "don't date co-workers" rule close to his own heart. After seeing those two... he was borderline. Perhaps there were special circumstances when work relationships were alright. He didn't know. He didn't really care for that matter. As long as it didn't come at the cost of work performance, he was fine with it.

Taking each step down the stairs, slowly and at his own pace, he let his mind drift to anticipation. He wondered what the new case would bring. Success? Failure? More drama? Routine work? In all honestly, he'd always dreamed of performing a casino heist. Ever since he saw the movie Casino Royale. (Daniel Craig delivered a great performance if you'd ask him.) But he never thought that working for the government of all employers, would grant him the opportunity to take part in one.

Yeah, all things factored in, this was looking to be a good week. Hopefully. And with a bit of luck. The only thing he feared was the closing paperwork. Nine out of ten times he ended up doing himself. But it _was _his job in the team after all. Handle the technical side of things. Funny. "Operational Manager" sure sounded like a cooler choice on paper. He didn't know he'd be giving up active duty to handle clandestine bureaucracy. Yeah, so he was still issued a gun and a badge, but this wasn't exactly the job he'd thought he'd be doing when he agreed.

Oh well. It was in the past. And he did like working with the team. Everyone except people like Rouge and the Commander. He had little patience for woman who took advantage of men. And vice versa. Not only that, he also had little patience for assholes who shouldn't have ever made it past Lieutenant Colonel. Much less becoming Commander of the entire National division.

Wow, there I go again. The rambling. Well, I can see you didn't get me any more cigarettes. Maybe it's for the better. I've had people tell me I'm a walking corpse. Well, screw em'. I really couldn't care less what their opinion was. Besides, I'm cutting down! I'm only smoking about ten a day recently. Alright, I'm going to restock. You keep an eye on the race for me. Little Skipper's in fourth ,and I've got 14k on him winning.

...

Alright then. Back to the story. Where was I again? Oh yeah, Sunday morning. So when Toreno walked into the storage room (He was on his way to the lounge.) he came across Shadow, who was seated on one of the empty crates they unloaded the previous night. In his hands, was a standard beige colored SCAR-L rifle. It was a nice little toy, developed for the United States Special Operations Command, (SOCOM) and coming in numerous variants. The SCAR-L was the "light" version. Also known as the Mk 16.

Shadow held that gun, like it was the only meaningful thing in the world. Toreno frowned. The hedgehog was so loved by some. He had his own fan database. A little following of people out there, do didn't accept all the "Sonic this, Sonic that" crap. And despite that, he had so little friends. He was well liked by all the others. Tails and Knuckles sure as hell held him in high regard. Some people go as far as to say Amy had a little thing for him. Rouge simply tried to get into bed with him every opportunity. (An offer Shadow constantly denied, I say thankfully.)

"That's a good gun there." I said, taking a sip of my coffee again. He still seemed oblivious to my presence, so I walked across the room and took a seat on a crate directly across from him. "You know it beat out-"

"The XM8 in a contest to replace the M4 used by United States special forces. I know." He sighed, and placed the gun back on the carpet they had set out in the room. It was right next to the other four, which had also been unpacked yesterday.

He took a seat again, half hoping Toreno would leave. However, the man held up his right leg, placing his foot on the knee of his left. "You like guns?" He asked, trying to make conversation. And then he got an idea. Placing his coffee mug on the crate next to him, he stood up. And then he reached around behind him, to the holster he kept carefully concealed behind the fabric of his trademark blue blazer.

Out he pulled his own FN Five-Seven. It was a nice handgun. Small, and easy to conceal. Very lightweight. Using high-penetration 5.7 rounds, it had virtually no recoil. This all made for a very easy to wield gun, and while Toreno was skeptical of it's performance when it was first inducted as an official GUN sidearm, he'd come to rely on the weapon at almost all times. Weather it was the actual gun, or the warm feeling his hand had left on the grip, he liked it.

As he finished his thoughts, he poked the mag release with his thumb, and felt the magazine drop down into his hand below the grip. Looking at the bronze glimmer of a bullet inside, he slid it back into the weapon and pulled the slide. Then, as he looked at the hedgehog under the fringe of his eyelids, he threw the gun at Shadow.

The ebony hedgehog caught it with ease, and looked up at Toreno confused. And then he saw the faint glint of silver atop the man's thumb. Within a split second, the quarter was up in the air, flipping with freedom. Shadow knew what the man wanted him to do.

With as much accuracy as he could muster, Shadow tracked the object through the air. At the peek of it's height, right before it started the fall back down, he leveled the barrel of his handgun at it, and squeezed the trigger. The sound of the gunshot reverberated in the confines of the room, bouncing off the cold walls. The bullet flew forward, emerging from the muzzle flash and struck the coin in mid-air. As it flew back from the impact, Toreno shot his hand into the air, catching it in the palm.

"Nice." Toreno said, pointing at the hedgehog with his index finger. "You've got a good pair of eyes there."

Shadow scoffed, challenging Toreno's surprise. "I'm no rookie." After activating the safety, he slipped his finger inside the trigger guard, and swung the gun around a few times before tossing it back to the man across from him.

Toreno nodded, and caught the weapon. Tucking it back safely in the holster hanging from his waist, he nodded. "Nice. Alright. We need to send Rouge out later. It's gonna take a lot of prep work. I could use a hand."

The two agree, before awkwardly leaving the room.

Sunset Hotel. Nevada, USA. 1900 Hours. (Past your bedtime.)

Wilkes sneered, his hand rested on the top of the limo's steering wheel. He'd started the car up an hour ago, thanks to Toreno's insisting that Rouge would be ready to leave in a matter of minutes. Instead, he'd been staring out the windshield at the empty street, thinking about anything to keep his mind off the boredom. And the urge to gut Toreno with a letter opener.

Inside, Rouge must have felt like a mannequin. She was in the center of the lounge, her arms stretched out in opposite directions. Like when you're being patted down at a metal detector. Except instead of being stripped of all personal belongings, she was being equipped.

She'd long since traded out the white jumpsuit, which was folded neatly on the foot of her bed upstairs. Instead, she was clad in a black dress that cut off just below her knees. It was much less conspicuous. And more likely to divert any suspicions of her true motives in the casino.

She was practically a walking information weapon. The imitation chaos emerald necklace dangling from her neck was actually a very small, very advanced piece of fiber optic technology. A camera, to be precise. Located in the crimson gem of the accessory. He earrings, were also monitoring devices. Microphones, wired to only pick up sounds her ears were focused on. Also very advanced.

Finally, she wore her Five-Seven strapped to her right thigh, carefully concealed under the fabric of the dress. Not that any of them thought it made her any "sexier". Half of them were of other species, and while Rouge could think whatever she wanted, the only thing the men in that room were concerned with was business as usual.

Toreno had a wireless uplink, that gave him a constant video feed from her camera. With his laptop wide open, he folded his hands, and reminded her she could lower her arms already. When she dropped them in a huff, he frowned. "Don't get any ideas. For the following hours, I will see and hear everything you do from this computer. So no screwing around." His voice was stern. It had to be, to let her know he meant business. "Wilkes will drop you off outside the casino, and do a couple circles around the block, just to make sure insertion goes okay. You're in there for three hours tops, okay?"

"I got it." She nodded her head, and smoothed over the dress, as she walked towards the door that lead out into the lobby.

"Hey!" Toreno spun his chair, and raised his voice, effectively halting her in her tracks. "I'm not done! You're main objective is to get us surveillance. That means no dilly-dallying! Get in, get us some information, and get out! You'll rendezvous with Wilkes outside the entrance once you're done! Got it?"

She rolled her eyes, and swatted an invisible fly in his direction. "Okay, sure. No problem!" Pulling the glass door open, she ushered through, and made sure it shut soundly behind her.

Shadow and Toreno gave each other blank looks, and both shrugged. Toreno spun his chair around to face the laptop, while Shadow claimed one from a nearby desk.

Naomi strode in shortly after, a steaming platter of microwave noodles from the kitchen. Her eyes perk up as she sees the two guys sitting in front of the small laptop screen. "You get it working yet."

She took a seat behind them, bringing her own chair rolling over beside theirs. "If Rouge screws this up, I swear..." Toreno could barely push the words out of his mouth. It was no secret that Toreno disliked Rouge and her provocative ways of working, but sometimes the level of such shocked them. It was a sad truth, he had a great enmity for her.

The Egg Palace. Nevada, USA. 2000 Hours (Add one hour to 1900.)

Wilkes pulled the limo comfortably into a free space in the casino's parking lot. Getting out, he drew in a blissful gasp and let out a breath. "Ah fresh, city air." He waited for Rouge to step out of the back, and raised his eyebrows. "I'll do a couple go-arounds before heading back to the hotel. Just let Toreno know, and I'll come pick you up."

She smirked and flashed him a wink. "Sure thing. I'll see you later handsome!"

Wilkes, a bit disturbed by her comment, shrugged and climbed back into the limo. With a graceful "k-turn", he exited the white lined confines of the parking space, and rolled down the aisle towards the exit.

Rouge took each step of the short distance from parking lot to front entrance with care and effort. She made sure that any guys behind her would get a nice view, and any ladies would be jealous. Maybe it was sick to do so, but she felt pride whenever she took the opportunity to strut down a busy sidewalk.

The front entrance was overly decorated, that was clear enough, but the main thing on her mind when she approached it was not the status of the hypnotic movement of her hips, but now the fact that the entrance had a pair of dangerous looking men in combat fatigues. She knew the guys could all see what she saw, thanks to the camera in her necklace. And she hoped Toreno had a damn good plan for getting past the built in metal detector the guards were monitoring.

"Alright guys, time to get down to business." She said, quietly enough so that only the rest of the team heard her through the microphone connection, but loud enough so they could understand her. "How am I supposed to get past that with the handgun strapped to my leg?"

There was a moment of static, which made her heart race as she noted the sub machine guns the men were toting on her approach. "Rouge, if there was ever a time to flaunt the goodies, now is that time!" The words seemed well out of place being said by the voice of Toreno, but she shrugged.

"Good enough for me." She stepped forward, getting closer to the scanner with each second. Closer and closer it seemed to get, until the large electronic metal detector seemed like a picture frame around her body. With a nervous gulp, she swallowed her fear and stepped through the device.

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! _

Her nightmare was a reality. The electronic metal detector went off like a smoke alarm in a volcano. Instantly, the two heavies were upon her, one with his MP5 trained on her, the other rushing over with a scanning wand.

"Freeze! Do not move a muscle!" One cried, as his partner ran up to her with his wand. She heard the click of the cocking arm being thrown on the weapon. She sighed. He was serious. "Raise your arms."

Thinking on how she could get out of this one, she put together a devious little plot, that required her back to be facing the man searching her. "Sure, sure. Let me just, turn around so you can get a better... view." The second she was facing the other direction, she leaned forward at just the right angle so that her rear end was in the perfect view of the man.

His face twisted in a mix of confusion and disgust. He tapped her with the device in his hand. "Stand up straight ma'am."

She groaned, and cursed herself for thinking that every man on the planet would fall for the same trick. Standing up, her back stiff as a board, she waited for the man's wand to pick up the metal frame of the Five-Seven strapped to her waist.

The process was long, and slow. Or maybe it just seemed that way by the threat of impending capture by Eggman's guards. The wand went over her left leg first, which of course, picked up nothing out of the ordinary. But as soon as it started on her right, a familiar sound filled her sensitive ears.

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

"Um..." Her mind searched for words that could get her out of the current predicament. "I just have... my car keys." She instantly regretted that excuse, due to the fact that she was so clearly wearing a dress, and that had no pockets for no car keys.

The guard with the gun was already suspicious. "Ma'am, lift up your dress!"

"What?!" She turned her head slightly, already defying his order. Despite the fact that she had no problem doing the same thing every day at the water cooler at headquarters. But this was in public, with a crowd of people around her. And she was not attracted to these men. She wouldn't do it.

"Ma'am, I will not ask again! Lift up your dress!" The man armed with the MP5 had his patience running thin.

Rouge scoffed. "No! I'm not going to-"

The next sound she heard both terrified her and shocked her. The sound she heard, was the sound of fabric being ripped apart by a strong, gloved hand. She looked down to her right, and saw the man with the want tearing at the part of the dress that covered her thigh. He already felt the handgun holstered there.

She felt violated by that act. A sliver of her... undergarments... were visible in the triangle shaped hole in her dress, but more importantly, her weapon was now in plain sight.

"She's got a gun! Call Marty for back-up!" The man with the gun cried, stepping forward and pressing the barrel of his weapon against the back of her head. She could hear the rattle of the gun's mechanics as he brought the weapon up against her. "And don't you dare move!"

"Ahem!" The scratchiness of that voice pulled all attention to the right, where a sickly grinning Dr. Eggman himself stood proudly stroking his wild brown mustache. He wasn't in his usual red coat and gold buckles with the black trousers. Rather, a dashing tuxedo, which he could only barely pull off. "That won't be necessary gentlemen, Rouge is always a welcome guest."

She scoffed, only audible to the guards around her, and a few guests waiting on the other side of the metal detector. "I don't think so doctor, I've been more than violated enough tonight." The second she uttered the "night" in "tonight" she had regretted it. Toreno's voice shot over the microphone link, chastising her.

"What the hell are you doing? You need to get _into_ the casino!" She rolled her eyes, and dismissed his comment. Instead, she would play hard-to-get. Just as she always did. Reverse psychology, if you will. If Eggman thought she didn't want to go in, he'd never suspect her true motive of gathering information.

"I'll just, go home and uh... rent movies and order Chinese food for the rest of the night. Instead of spending Friday's paycheck here." She stood upright, and pretended to brush herself off. Pulling the ripped cloth of her dress, she did her best to hide the bare spot of her thigh.

He took her upstairs, into that mysterious fourth floor he kept as a private office. There was a circular section of the floor that was thick glass, in the center of the large room. It gave a nice view of the casino below. That, and the monitors that had direct video feed with the numerous security cameras around the building. It brought flashbacks of Rouge's first time seeing _Scarface_. She remembered the several TV screens in the mansion.

Eggman's desk was placed in the back of the room, across from the large mahogany double doors that gave entrance. Behind it, another window that had a view of the city, with overly large red curtains draped on both sides It wasn't a very modest room. It seemed shaped to fit the doctor's ego itself. Everything was bold and presumptuous. From the two armchairs in front of the desk, to the twin statues of the doctor that seemed to tower like might redwoods.

He moved around to the massive black leather chair behind his desk, and spun it to face the bat who was easing her way into one of the velvet red armchairs. "I'll order a change of clothes for you, if you want. Some of our dealers wear dresses similar to yours. Same designer, I think." He folded his fingers together, and watched her closely. She knew he was suspicious. She didn't blame him.

"Well that might... ease the humiliation. Of course, I demand that those men be fired as soon as possible." She said, sticking her chin up just a little bit, and turning away from the man sitting across from her. This didn't seem like the Eggman she had helped the others fight so often. That Eggman was loud and unpredictable, a real villain. But this Eggman seemed... sophisticated. She found it hard to believe he would create a base of operations without a legion of loyal robotic soldiers. As he had done so many times before. His "Egg Pawns" seemed to be a staple in his plotting these days.

The doctor didn't believe her. She could tell. He put his fingers together around the hair of his mustache and rubbed. "I'm sorry Rouge, but those men were doing their jobs. I can't do such a thing. You understand, of course?"

"Speaking of your new... employees... who exactly are they? I didn't think armed commandos was your style doctor." She crossed her legs, and her arms. She still wanted to look as confident as she was. Unfortunately, as the truth goes, she was still shook up about what happened down at the entrance, mere minutes before. But there was no excuse for letting that show, if she wanted to get the guys their intel, she would have to play the part.

Good thing she was a good actress.

"If you must know," He stated, sitting back now, and pushing his chair left and right. "They are from a PMC."

Rouge's eyes must have widened a little, because she knew exactly what a PMC was. An acronym, of course, which stood for Private Military Companies. Which were just that. Army contractors. Private security. Little, rent-a-soldier businesses. But she never thought in a million years that Dr. Eggman himself would abandon his loyal trait of robot building to enlist the help of some elite group of rifle toting heavies. Either this was an impostor with the spitting image of Eggman on his face, or the doctor really had fallen into hard times... financially.

"A PMC?" Rouge lowered the high eyelids, and kept her usual sultry, know-it-all look. "Which one? There's plenty of Vegas companies." She had to press this further, she knew Toreno was probably going nuts right about know. He was listening to every word that came out of her mouth after all.

Eggman smirked. A part of him probably knew she was squeezing him for info, and weather it be his show off attitude or his genius stupidity, he obliged. "Shadow Element."

She froze. That _definitely _did not sound like the Eggman she knew. Rouge instantly knew something was up. Shadow Element had to be the most anti-Eggman industry in the world! Or at least in America. They'd had contracts with the President in the past, she did work with some of their executives! Either the doctor was seriously screwed money-wise, or this wasn't him at all! Either of which now sounded like plausible theories. She _had_ to find out more.

"Shadow Element? Really? Why the sudden change in heart?" She said, trying to press further in a very obvious way. She suddenly began to realize how much more important this mission might prove to be.

"Well I'm sorry Rouge, dear. But I have some management issues that I need to attend to. I'll page Sally and see if she has an extra dress downstairs. Feel free to keep it, if you wish." The doctor was now turning the tables. He suddenly didn't want to talk. Without another word of protest, he stabbed a button on his desk with his finger, and kept an eye on his guest under the fringe of his eyelids. "Sally, could you please see if the dealers have a spare dress in the locker room, I've got a guest who might need a change."

"Sally's" voice came back over the speaker, with a light greeting to the doctor, followed by a utter cooperation, and telling that she was looking for the dress right now. Eggman gave a thank you, and looked back up at Rouge. "The dealer locker room is in the basement, you can change there if you like. Just ask one of our dealers if you get lost."

The basement! Score! They all suspected from the beginning that Eggman's vault was somewhere under the actual casino, and the basement sounded like a good place to find it, or at least to start looking. So she obliged, took the doctor up on his offer and started for the gateway that was the mahogany double doors.

Sunset Hotel. Nevada, USA. 2000 Hours. (I never knew how to do minutes, just stay with me.)

If Toreno sat back any further in that little office chair, it might have collapsed with him in it. His jaw laid out at least an inch below where it usually was, or maybe half an inch. Shadow seemed just as perplexed as he was, he was just more conservative about it. Naomi, who had little knowledge of the big-name corporations or Eggman himself, didn't seem to get their shocked expressions.

"Shadow Element?" Those were the only words Toreno could muster. I think I can safely say for that man, that at that moment he felt like a monkey's daughter's pet's gerbil. He couldn't believe his ears. The words were coming in loud and clear over the microphone link, but he still didn't believe them. "Shadow Element?" He repeated.

"I don't get it, what is so important about Shadow Element?" Naomi clearly felt left out here, she had no idea the magnitude of what Eggman was implying.

Then, they heard the door to the lounge open up, and on instinct, Toreno's hand shot around for the Five-Seven in his holster. By the time he had it pointed in the direction of the door however, he was already cursing himself, for it was only Wilkes returning from Rouge's insertion. It took him longer because he probably stuck around after seeing the setback at the metal detector. It was clearly visible from the outside street.

He took the time to walk to Naomi, and place hand on the small of her back where she stood. "Shadow Element is one of many "anti-Eggman" corporations, who have voiced their dislike for the doctor and his plotted on numerous occasions. They've had joint contracts with GUN in the past in the protection of the President and other government VIP's from Eggman himself. The fact that they would be working with him is... hard to believe."

"More than hard to believe Wilkes! It's like hell itself has frozen over! No one on Earth would ever believe of anything like this!" Toreno shook his head, and rubbed his forehead, shadowing his eyes. If this was really the truth, then the operation just got a whole lot more complicated before it even started.

Shadow Element had contracts. Important ones, with the government. FBI, DEA, CIA, NSA, and the rest of the federal alphabet soup. The mission was now strictly non-lethal. They didn't know if the Shadow Element troops working at the Egg Palace were just hired help, a splinter faction of the company supporting Eggman's domination, or weather the corporation itself had gone rogue. And they couldn't assume anything. In order to get Fifth Freedom rights from the Joint Chiefs, they'd need solid proof that the troops in and around Eggman's casino were against the United States government. This was going to be a pain in the ass for Toreno. A lot more paperwork, and possibly a trip to Kansas City, the home of Shadow Element.

He growled in a way that struck fear into the people around him, and leaned forward to face the laptop screen. He'd switched off audio feed momentarily, in order to discuss this complication with the rest of the team, however not much talking had gotten done. Just Toreno, expressing his utter disbelief.

Adjusting the headset he was wearing, he sucked in a breathe of cool air, and nodded. "Okay Rouge, now listen very closely. Get down to the basement, and get the change of clothes. Once you're done, do _not_, and I repeat this with the intensity of a thousand white suns, _do not_ return to the casino floor until you have searched every inch of that basement! Do you understand me."

Toreno expected a smart ass comment, and prepared to retaliate with his own, but instead, he received a response he didn't see coming. "Got it."

Puzzled, he cocked an eyebrow, and sighed. Maybe she was finally being serious. "Alright, thank you. Now listen, I'm going to let Shadow monitor you for a while, I'm heading to the lobby to make a call."

"No problem. I'll be happy to be in contact with someone a little more pleasant." She quipped, and Toreno could see the image of Rouge's little smirk etched into his mind. He gritted his teeth just a little bit and nodded.

"Sure, whatever."

GUN National Headquarters. Washington, USA. 2000 Hours. (If you don't know what that is by now...)

"You're kidding me." The Commander couldn't filter the words into rational thoughts. His response was much like Toreno's. One of utter disbelief, and slight anger. His eyes shot wide open like saucers, and the men around him in the Headquarters MTAC all knew that hell was about to break loose. "No. No that's impossible. This is Shadow Element! They would never work for Eggman, no matter what the given payment!"

The phone in his hands seemed like it had a mind of it's own, and he just couldn't believe that Mike Toreno himself was speaking the words to him. "Listen Commander, we've got Rouge working for us inside the casino, the building is crawling with their soldiers. Believe it sir, it's them! They're there!"

The Commander smirked out of delusional rage, and pounded his fist onto the top of a control panel that just so happened to be right next to him. All eyes looked to him, realized the exact magnitude of whatever he was hearing, and instantly returned to their work.

"How is this possible? Why would they be working for the doctor?" He looked around, regretting his outburst, and turned around, starting towards the door that lead into the much more private corridor outside the MTAC. He didn't want this conversation pouring out into the ears of the desk jockies. Not until it was official.

"You have to remember sir, this is a legitimate corporation. If Eggman's portraying himself as a upstanding citizen now, then they can't exactly refuse him service." Toreno's voice was like a Prophet of Truth, (Yes, I've been playing _Halo 3_.) that pushed undeniable tidbits of tough love into his mind. No matter how much he wanted to believe this complication would just... disappear, it wasn't going to happen.

"Listen sir, I've recorded the audio bit of the conversation. And I've documented it on paper. I'm faxing you one copy, and keeping one for myself. This way, we have undeniable proof that they're working with the good doctor." Toreno said, confident that his tactics were fool proof. "Now the way I figure it, at least someone inside Shadow Element is supporting the doctor's cause. This has to go beyond "just business"."

The Commander was a step ahead of Toreno. "You want to send someone into Shadow Element, don't you?"

"Kansas City is out of range for a chopper, but the V-22 Osprey is a V/STOL (Vertical – Short Takeoff and Landing, in case you didn't know.) aircraft, it can take one of our operatives from the same heliport we arrived at, straight to the Shadow Element Headquarters. We can perform a HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening. I've got to stop with these military terms, sorry!) jump, and send an operative in on a strictly non-lethal reconnaissance mission, to determine their status as an ally, or an enemy." Toreno took a moment to rest after the long strung together mouthful he had just released. He'd put together a whole plan for the hopeful mission.

"Well that's great Major General Toreno, but the Rainbow Six isn't very resourceful when it comes to operational field operatives. You've got two active members who can work field missions, and both of them are needed for your current task in Las Vegas." The Commander said. You could say he was just trying to avoid the extra paperwork, and you're probably right. But he was going to try to come up with any excuse he could to make sure that Rainbow Six didn't go to Kansas City.

Toreno anticipated this, and was more than ready to counter. "I'm sorry sir, but that isn't entirely true. Shadow the Hedgehog wasn't going to see any activity until the actual heist, which is still a long ways away, due to the amount of planning and prep work involved. He is more than suitable for such a mission."

The Commander frowned, and sighed. "Damn." He muttered, too loudly. Toreno picked it up, and scoffed. "Very well General, I will authorize access to one of our Ospreys. When do you want it?"

"Wednesday will be fine sir, I'll send Shadow out then. Thank you sir." Toreno replied, trying to sound as genuine as he could with his "thank you". The call was the over, it ended just as quickly as it had begun. The Commander cursed his job, and his life, and returned to the MTAC, to begin processing the pre-mission paperwork for Toreno to fill out, at a later date.


End file.
